Live Chat: The future of customer experience

We’re talking about Live Chat. And as the number one tool right now for customer service satisfaction, so are your customers. While it was once considered a ‘nice-to-have’, luxury web asset, it’s since become the norm – with more than 30% of your web visitors expecting to find it on your site. In other words, the future of customer experience has arrived, and it’s very much here to stay. Here’s why:

24/7 accessibility

In today’s ‘always-on’ world, customers are more demanding than ever before. The concept of 9-5 is long behind us, and customers want to be able to contact you on their terms; be it after office hours, during the weekend, or even in the middle of the night.

Not only will extending your accessibility result in more enquiries and higher engagement levels from existing customers, but it helps your business to open up the doors to more clientele and capture new leads that may have slipped through the net previously; perhaps in markets overseas, or simply as a result of being able to contact you at times where access to the phone isn’t possible. In fact, our report revealed that having Live Chat on your website will double your conversions, whilst increasing online purchases by up to 35%, since customers are able to gain fast resolution to their queries.

Fast response

There are numerous reasons why Live Chat is hailed as the top tool for customer satisfaction; one of those being speed. With the internet offering instantaneity, today’s customers crave real-time response.

Often customers simply don’t have the time to type an email or pick up the phone when on a mission to find a specific product or gain some quick advice. As the fastest customer service tool (yes, even quicker than social media!), Live Chat allows you to handle up to three customer queries at any one time – as opposed to just one over the phone or on the shop floor. High satisfaction rates, ease-of-use, and instantaneous answers mean you can cut down the number of emails and phone calls you receive, too.

Many professionals in regulated industries (like legal practices and financial firms) have strict SLAs which require them to respond to client calls, letters and emails within 24 hours of receipt. Whether you have a targeted turnaround time for responses to customer communications in your business, or simply want to offer the best service you can, Live Chat will allow you to engage with website visitors faster than any other channel.

Drive sales

As mentioned, Live Chat increases online purchases by 35%. With this real-time communication channel, businesses that sell their products and services online will vastly improve their website ROI (and overall sales figures).

One reason for the success of Live Chat for eCommerce businesses is that customers never need to leave the site – or even product page – to get answers to their queries. This prevents abandoned carts and engages those passive consumers who might otherwise be distracted and forget about the products they were interested in.

What’s next?

Live Chat is the biggest opportunity to grow your business right now.

Adopting new technologies is essential for businesses to remain competitive and ensure they continue to run efficiently. This includes how you communicate with your customers. Live Chat has been around for a number of years now, but as more and more companies adopt this, fellow businesses must consider implementing this type of function (with quality software).

Because some businesses may not have the capability or resources to look after an extra stream of customer service, many are turning to outsourcing Live Chat to ensure they can deliver this channel effectively and via the latest chat technology, in order to portray a modern approach to customer service and enhance client experience.

Outsourcing Live Chat 

At Moneypenny, we combine gold-standard technology with exceptional people to support businesses of all sizes and sectors. Trust us to look after your chats around the clock when you’re busy or unavailable, or opt for fully outsourced chats. Our complete solution delivers the ultimate service for any business keen to maximise the value of every website visitor. Contact the Moneypenny team to find out more about our outsourced live chat service. Call us today on 0333 202 1005.